He tried to
forget that before him sat the man who had taken from him all he held
dear, this man who now had it in his power to dishonor him as well--send
him south for trial among strangers.

"Well, the Lelacs say you did hide the body. But suppose you left it on
the cache. You were safe. Why should anyone come to your camp and see
it? You were two days' travel up the Ghost from Whale River. They
surprised you while you were away hunting."

With a look of disgust but retaining his self-control, Jean answered:
"Eet was a ver' hard winter. De Cree were starve' and knew we camp up de
Ghost. Dey might come tru de bush for grub any tam. Eef I keel heem
would I wait till spring to hide him under stones, as Lelac say?"

"Um!" The face of Inspector Wallace assumed a judicial expression. "The
circumstantial evidence is against you. Of course, you have something in
your favor, but if I were on a jury I'd have to convict you," Wallace
said with an air of finality.

"One moment, Mr. Wallace," growled Gillies. "How about the previous
reputation of Marcel and the character of the whole Lelac tribe? Hasn't
that got any weight with you? I believe this boy because I've always
found him honest and straight, as his father was. We thought a lot of
his father on this coast. I don't believe the Lelacs because they always
were liars. But you've missed the real point of the whole matter."

"What do you mean? The case is clear as a bell to me, Gillies." The
Inspector colored, frowning on the stiff-necked factor.

"Why, putting the previous reputation, here, of Marcel aside, if he had
killed Beaulieu, would he have told us that Beaulieu was stabbed?
Clearly not! He would have said that Antoine died of starvation and was
not stabbed, for as soon as he heard they had not turned in the fur, he
knew he had the Lelacs in his power and could prove them thieves and
liars, and we all would have believed him. The story of the Lelacs as to
the man having been murdered would not have held water a minute after
the hearing proves them thieves.

"Furthermore, he knew they could not prove their tale by the body of
Beaulieu, either, left to rot on the shore there in the spring freshets.
There would be no evidence for a canoe from the post to find." The
Scotchman rose and pounded the slab table as he drove home his final
point.

"Why, Jean Marcel had it in his power, if he had been guilty, to have
walked out of this trouble by simply giving the Lelacs